Most People get married believing a myth that marriage is a beautiful box full of all things they have longed for: companionship, intimacy, friendship, etc. The truth is that marriage at the start is an empty box. You must put something in before you can take any thing out. There is no love in marriage. Love is in people. The is no romance in marriage. you have to infuse it into your marriage. A couple must learn the art and form the habit of giving, loving, serving, praising keeping the box full. If you take out more then you put in, the box will be empty.

Saturday, 8 June 2013

So, we all should know by now how many harmful toxins and chemicals commercial deodorant/sticks/roll ons contain.
I am going to give you our very own natural recipe which is basic to make your very own.

I love finding cheap recipes. Whether they're for food or for other household products, if the recipe contains natural, frugal ingredients, especially if I have them around the house already, I'm totally psyched.
And if its easy as pie to make on top of all that, then I do a little jig out of excitement. Not that I'm actually afraid of doing hard work, because I'm willing to put in a lot of physical effort to get things done (like my foraging, making food from scratch, canning, etc. but I also enjoy taking it easy in between my bursts of insane productivity.
This recipe is perfect for when I don't want to do hard work, because it takes less than 5 minutes total, involves no complicated steps.
Oh, so I'm talking so much about my love of recipes that I didn't even tell you what I was talking about.
Home-made deodorant. The stick kind.

Home-made Stick Deodorant

And yes, it actually works. Very well. Its not an antiperspirant; it won't stop you from sweating on the hottest days, but that's better, because your body releases toxins through sweating, and if you stop your body from releasing those toxins, you can very possibly increase your risk of getting breast cancer.
This deodorant stops you from stinking. Even doing lots of physical labour in the hottest of summers with no AC, when using this deodorant, I can easily go at least 2 or 3 days without showering, and no, I don't stink up the place- it just works that well!
In case you were wondering, it also works on men with hairy underarms. Just saying.

This deodorant is totally edible if you should chose to eat it; not that it tastes good or anything, but since it is made with only natural real food ingredients, its safe to put on your skin. Your skin is one very absorbent organ, and ideally you should only be putting things on your skin things that are safe to put into your mouth, as things on your skin can get absorbed and go directly into your bloodstream, without even having the added safety feature of having gone through your digestive system to filter out toxins.

Equipment
Plastic wrap or sandwich bag
Empty toilet paper roll tube (or if that makes you squeamish, a paper towel tube should do, so long as you cut it shorter- not that you'd have something as unfrugal and ungreen as paper towels in your home- you'd borrow from a neighbour, of course)
Mixing container
Spoon
Food processor/blender if needed/desired

Instructions
1. Make sure your baking soda isn't clumpy. If you buy it in bulk and store it for a while like I do, you may find that it clumps into large chunks. If this is the case, whiz it in a blender/food processor until it is broken up.

3. Add coconut oil, one tablespoon at a time, until you get a nice, thick paste (almost like play-dough).

4. Spoon the paste into a cut piece of plastic wrap or into a sandwich bag.

5. Place the wrapped mixture inside your toilet paper tube. Push it down so that it reaches all the way to the bottom. You'll have enough so that there will be more of the mixture above the rim, making a mound, as in the picture above.

6. Wrap the excess plastic wrap or sandwich bag over the mound and place in the refrigerator until hard.

To use, remove from fridge, remove plastic wrap, and rub on your underarms as you would any other stick deodorant.
When the deodorant mound on top gets finished, push up what remains inside the tube so you have more sticking out.

How does it work? Baking soda stops things from stinking, and is an antibacterial. Corn starch or the like absorb moisture. And coconut oil, in addition to binding the mixture, is good for the skin, and is antibacterial and anti-fungal
, and even stops things from smelling.

Note: If you can't afford coconut oil, or don't have access to it, you can make a deodorant powder just by mixing equal amounts of starch and baking soda, and apply it with a paintbrush designated for that purpose. It works well, but be prepared to get white powder all over your clothes and floor when applying it. The stick eliminates the mess involved.

P.S. I did not make up this idea, so I can't take the credit. Its a conglomeration of a few different posts I read over a few different years in various places.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

In 2008 a black bear was shot with a tranquillizer dart in a Florida neighbourhood. He bolted into the water and after 25 yards, he began to struggle against the effects of the dart. When wildlife biologist Adam Warwick saw what was happening, he raced into the water after the 375 pound bear and pulled him to safety. The bear was later released into a preserve.

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

Motivational Story About Stress Management

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralysed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralysed – incapable of doing anything."